Women football development in Nigeria, collapsing — Ex-NWFL Boss

More sports stakeholders, particularly those within the football circle have continued to react to the activities of women’s football development in Nigeria in recent times.

The latest to speak is the immediate past Chairperson of the Nigeria Women Football League (NWFL), Chief (Mrs) Dilichukwu Onyedinma, who said domestic women’s football in the country is gradually collapsing and that if something fast was not done, the entire gains made before now would be completely erased due to maladministration.

NWPL incumbent chairperson, Aisha Falode, had a few days ago attacked the former NWFL board with a claim that the country’s women’s football league is now better organised and managed.

“With the former board, they never got a single sponsorship and the league witnessed so much retrogression with the highest number of walkovers in the history of women’s football in Nigeria,” Falode was quoted as saying.

However, Mrs Onyedinma, under whose watch as board chairperson, the NWFL birthed a professionally-handled women League from pro-level (division two standard) to the amazement of many football lovers wondered why the present leadership would just be left in hands of one person with poor football management skills.

“Out of maturity, I decided to watch things unfold. To now learn that Folade is comparing her visionless and directionless leadership with the legacy we set with women’s football is embarrassing.

“Where do I start from, where’s women’s domestic football development today? Everything is collapsing because one person is running the show. No more accountability. Nothing to hold on to.

“No new grassroots players have been discovered in the past five years or so, unlike what was obtained when we were there.

“I hear she even struggles to call Congress annually. NWFL is now managed as if is a state league. Throughout the time I chaired a properly constituted board, Congresses were held as at when due and in different states without any hindrance. There is no how a leadership setup ordinarily designed for a full board structure can function well with just one person taking decisions alone.

“During our time, we didn’t have to run cap in hand to NFF begging for funds. The board which was adequately constituted through an election always sourced funds to carry out our programmes adequately.

“As a board, we rendered a detailed account of everything we did, the documented copies are there for all to see. These days, there are claims of sponsorship agreements with no details for the clubs to see…,” Mrs Onyedinma who was a former executive board member of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) said.

For the past five years, the current NWFL leadership which was renewed two years ago has been running without a properly constituted board as against stipulated status vis-a-vis approval by the NFF hierarchy.

This medium exclusive gathered that in 2020, when Aisha Folade was reappointed as NWFL Chairperson, the country’s football body via an official memo dated January 14, 2020, instructed that a board made up of nine members, including six representatives from participating clubs and two independent board members be constituted in line with relevant article.

Checks, however, revealed that the League has remained without an elected and properly constituted board till the time of filing this report.

Vanguard